For all you people out there who mash up pages to throw google ads on and try and make money... let me help you out and give you a business secret that will increase your profits. Build a website for a topic you are passionate about! Sounds silly right? But look at it from this view. If I know nothing about cars, how can I make a profitable website about cars? I cant. Unless I get lucky. Find something you are passionate about, travel, animals, weather, sports, whatever -- and BUILD THAT! You must be engaged in the topic if it is ever to succeed. You must take a direct interest, and not just be interested in making the money. Take myself. I have a full time job, its something that I truely love. Not many people get to say that. On top of this, my hobby has always been (for the last 10+ years) website design, logos, programming. So what did I do? I created a business out of it. In addition to that, I enjoy helping others. Which leads me to my next venture, of placing freelance jobs to other designers. I do this because I enjoy it. When I have free time I also do charity work in Uganda Africa. Why? because it's something I am dedicated to. Dont chase the money. Do what you love, the money will follow.
Yes, the best advice to give someone starting out, is that your website should be about something you are passionate about and a topic you would enjoy.
I run over 1,000 websites for customers around the world. Most of them are trying to generate revenue from their knowledge, expertise and content. Some are doing extremely well ($1m+ per year), many are doing OK ($50k+ per year) and some are struggling. If I had to pick the single criteria which makes the difference between the ones doing very well and the ones that are struggling it would be their passion and depth of understanding of their subject. IMHO the only way to make a significant and sustainable income from content on the Internet is to provide unique, exclusive and timely information about a niche subject. To achieve this you need to really understand your subject, be credible in the eyes of your readers and deliver value way beyond the costs, where costs can both be time and/or money.
You think I was going to give you a million dollar idea for free? Come on now be logical! Some people do not know this, if it helps one person realize - my job is done. I see too many people trying to build something they have no interest in, spend money on it, only to have it fail because they have no true interest in the subject other then the hopes of making money from it.
That's not much of a secret but I think it is really true, ESPECIALLY for beginners in the internet marketing world. If you have never started a company or marketed a product before and you want to get into the game, working on something you are passionate about will definitely help you succeed (at first). This is because you can keep your focus better towards something that sparks your attention and you will not become bored of reading the same thing over and over again. It also helps to know a little bit about whatever it is you are marketing so you can build your marketing campaigns easier. BUT when you advance in the marketing world you will run out of stuff to market for whatever your passion is. At this point you will have the resources and the experience to branch off into other niches online. You will become more profitable in the long run if you are able to master one niche at a time, and eventually expand to other areas that can generate even more money!
Alan, and if I had a million dollar idea why would I not come here? Would I some how be better then any of you and not be willing to talk to others? A million dollar idea only gets you so far, either you are worked to death and have zero social life, or its a million dollar idea and you kick back and do nothing but have a social life. Im willing to work hard, but there is a limit. My happiness comes before money forever and always.
webrec - don't take it so seriously... I personally have a great lifestyle and live on a beautiful little island, great social life, am always busy - sadly not the million dollars though What you said is true - I actually agree wholeheartedly with what you said - but it was hardly a revaluation that hasn't been seen a thousand times on this and other forums... The reality is that even those things we work on that we are passionate about (and I'd have to say my workload is a 50/50 split - that's just life) many people don't stick at it passionate or not.... Far to many read all this make a million dollars in 15 minutes nonsense and think 'it's easy to make money over 'this internet thing' without having a clue about the basics. My two peneth worth. You might enjoy this spoof I did....
you have my signature on this one! everybody chasing money in life - and even if they succeed, that are just a zeros that they well never seen - my opinion
SEO first of all, search engines are following tittle of page, URL etc... and most important - have "million" links on web to your web site